


on a boat, in the rain

by CobaltMemorial



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Universe, Long-Distance Relationship, Love Letters, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:14:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29408940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CobaltMemorial/pseuds/CobaltMemorial
Summary: Tooru leaves for Argentina just as the sun rises.A note from Iwaizumi puts Oikawa's worries at rest as he leaves the country.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31





	on a boat, in the rain

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written fic in my life, but IwaOi does funny things to the brain.  
> The title has nothing to do with the fic, don't take it too seriously.  
> This was written for the ALWY zine contest! Go read the other entries, they're very good :3

Tooru leaves for Argentina just as the sun rises. It’s dreary and cold, and everything’s a blur from jolting out of bed at the sound of his alarm to rushing to the airport suitcases in hand to stepping through security and towards the gate. He’s fully aware, somewhere in the deep recesses of his mind, that he should be excited and down past the sleepiness and already aching loneliness of leaving home, he is. But as the sun inches its way across the sky, shining brightly through the floor length airport windows, all Tooru can feel is uncertainty.

A new life, a new team, a new culture to set foot into and assimilate to, all sight unseen. It’s terrifying, no matter how much time Tooru has spent arguing that this is right for him, this is what he wants to do; his career in volleyball is worth any culture shock or other drawbacks that accompany leaving his home country for some place entirely new. He does want this, and yet.

For all the opportunities Argentina will bring, the distance from Iwaizumi is what cuts Tooru through the most, shakes him to his core and leaves him rattled and terrified whenever it crosses his mind. To be separated from his family was inevitable and well understood from a young age; to be separated from Iwa-chan after eighteen long years of near permanent togetherness only felt like a vague possibility until the moment they flipped over their chosen college acceptance letters, splitting their previously intertwined path through life into two very distinct routes. It had been something of a relief, actually, to know that Iwaizumi was leaving the country as well. They both chose their careers over each other, in spite of one another, neither letting the other hold him back.

But to know that for the first time in his volleyball career, Tooru will have to play without Hajime at his side? Moreover, without Hajime within eyesight, but trapped instead somewhere not even across the country or continent but hundreds of thousands of kilometers away?

His flight number is called, shaking Tooru out of his reverie. His boarding pass is scanned and his seat located. Tooru digs through his bag for his headphones, hoping his seat partner isn’t too chatty. He’s not nearly awake enough to withstand a conversation right now. As he checks the pockets of his carry on, a loose paper brushes his fingertips, too thick to be a receipt. Tooru pulls it out; it’s an envelope, slightly bent from its stint in his carry on, his name printed on the front in Iwaizumi’s neat handwriting. Tooru had checked the contents of his bag the night before, unpacking everything to ensure triple check its contents before stuffing it all back in again. He could say with absolute certainty that there had not been a letter from his loving boyfriend there at the time.

The plane lurches forward, and a video starts up in front of Tooru explaining the safety mechanisms of the plane. As they cruise forward, Tooru rips open the letter. 

_‘kawa,_

__

_you’ll argue a hundred thousand times over that this isn’t something you need to hear. i know you well enough to know that. but i also know that this is something you’ll need to hear anyway, so here we go. i’m not the greatest with words, you know that, but i’ll do my best._

__

_you asked me, once, if i believed in soulmates. you did, and you hoped you’d meet yours someday. i said i didn’t - what more could i possibly need than you? and i still don’t, not in the traditional sense. i think the idea that there’s someone out there perfectly designed to be your better half is bullshit. had we met later in life, passed on the streets, no cosmic predetermined fate was going to magically pull us together._

__

_you’re my soulmate, not because fate determined we would be. fuck that. you’re my soulmate because i chose you, and i’ll choose you, until the end of time. i’ll choose our relationship, and i’ll fight to keep it, because to lose you without a fight would be the worst thing i could ever do to us._

__

_you’re leaving for argentina tomorrow. i leave for california a week later. we’ll be further from each other than we’ve ever been before. i know you’re scared, and i am too. but don’t be afraid of losing me. i’ll be your pillar of strength for as long as you need me, and I know you’ll be the same for me._

__

_so panic about the culture shock and the new language. panic about being away from japan and everything else familiar. but don’t panic about me, shittykawa. if there was ever anything i believed in, it was your faith in us: as a team, as best friends, and as partners. you held our faith for so long; let me do the same to you._

__

_i love you._

__

_forever yours,_

__

_hajime_

__

_p.s. i told your mom to sneak this into your bag after you’d fallen asleep. if i gave it directly to you, you’d open it too soon in spite of any instructions to wait._

Tooru stares blankly at the page, unmoving. A tear splatters on the paper, stirring him back to life. He blinks, folds the paper, tucks it away into its envelope and then into the jacket of his coat.

Somewhere in his stupor, the plane had taken flight. Tooru rolls up the plane window, looking out at the city below. The plane rises, and the city disappears under the clouds leaving only bright, blue sky. The horizon stretches endlessly out the window, but for all that it is forever out of reach, to Tooru it almost feels attainable. The letter in his pocket crinkles audibly as he shifts to get a closer look, the fogginess and fear in his head dissipated.

The sky is bright, his future endless, the beliefs of the love of his life lending him strength. His future won’t be perfect, nor easy. But it’s started, and Tooru feels more than ready to take it on.

~

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I'm very new to this so really, thanks very much.


End file.
